A Story of A Boy
by WerewolfDoctor
Summary: Before Harry leaves the wizarding world he goes to talk to Professor McGonagall. This is the story of that conversation, and what Harry does afterwards. Just a note - this isn't a 'Harry is bitter and angry and so leaves the wizarding world' (though I do love them) more of a 'Harry decides he can't live in the wizarding world any longer because of what they all assume he is'


"Professor?" Harry called, peering round the door of Professor McGonagall's study. McGonagall emerged from behind a bookshelf.

"You don't need to call me that Harry. You know that."

"Yeah … well. Old habits. Still a boy, I guess. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you. If you're not too busy."

"Yes, you wrote. Do you want to sit down?"

Harry remained standing, not quite fidgeting. "I wanted to tell you I'm leaving."

"Leaving what?"

"The wizarding world. As much as I can, at least. I mean I'll keep in touch, Ron and Hermione especially. They already know."

"Can I ask why you're leaving?"

"It sounds so ungrateful, but … I can't do anything here. The names they gave me, I could never … I came here, not knowing a thing, and believe me, Hogwarts was the first real home I've ever had and I hate to leave it, but … but in the end it was just the same. I was always blamed for things I couldn't control. I broke rules I didn't even know were there. There was no guidebook and everybody was always watching me. And Dumbledore … Dumbledore, I … I mean, I loved him, he was my first mentor … and I like to think he loved me, in a way, but that makes it more terrible, because he always had my life mapped out. He sent me to the Dursleys like there was no other option. Trained me for the sacrifice I would always have to make. And I _know_, I _know_ my sacrifice was the only way to defeat Voldemort, but I never had a choice. Not in the end. And that's the way it will always be. I'll just be a symbol."

McGonagall nodded. As much as she hated it, she knew it was true. She had tried her best to treat Harry like any other student, but how could that be possible when everything happened around Harry, when he jumped in too willingly to save others, disregarding his own life? How had they failed to take into account what all these things would do to Harry? How his life with the Dursleys would affect him? When the world revered him one moment and vilified him the next, how could he ever be normal? And how could he live now, knowing he would always be an object (not a person) of reverence or an object of hate, and never quite sure whether the public would turn?

"What will you do?"

"That's the beauty of it, Professor. I have no idea."

"I wish you luck then. And if you think that there is anything you need from myself or Hogwarts, just ask."

"Well," said Harry with a half grin, "I will find it hard to give up Quidditch completely."

McGonagall nodded. She'd always tried to avoid having favourites, but she'd always have a fondness for Potter. "Do try to stay out of trouble, won't you Potter?"

"I might just manage that, Professor."

…

McGonagall received her information about Harry (apart from the odd letter from Harry himself) from Ron and Hermione. It helped that Hermione had always refused to cut ties from the muggle world, and through her Ron had been introduced to, and gradually come to understand it.

According to Hermione Harry was reacquainting himself with muggle life and enjoying the anonymity he was given. Harry was apparently a fairly common name in muggle England.

Harry, whilst originally uncommon, was becoming more common in the wizarding world, as many baby wizards (and some unfortunate witches) were being named Harry after Harry Potter. McGonagall dreaded the year when the legions of Harrys came to Hogwarts.

Harry, as far as Hermione knew, didn't have a job, and although it was true that he could probably life off his inheritance all his life, Harry wouldn't be content just doing nothing.

It was down to Harry's letters that pens were now available at Hogwarts, and she was working on ways of making computers work at Hogwarts. After all, it would make organising much easier and if she didn't have to deal with student's illegible scrawl, she would be much happier.

Harry once sent a letter introducing her to the muggle organisation called 'Ofsted' and listed, under Ofsted's rules, the crimes Snape had committed. The message clear, _Snape might have been a great spy, but to make him a teacher was lunacy,_ McGonagall had always known that, and questioned Snape's appointment several times. The other message, however, came a little closer to home, pointing out just how many dangerously incompetent teachers they had had. Not to mention one possessed by Voldemort, another a dangerous villain in disguise and Umbridge.

Harry sent another letter soon after apologising for his bitter mood, but he had been dying to point out what he saw as the obvious for a very long time. McGonagall replied that she understood, and that he had good advice.

The next time McGonagall saw Harry was at Ron and Hermione's wedding. He had slightly longer hair, which, for once in Harry's life, didn't look like a bird's nest. Perhaps that was the key; simply grow out the messiness into a style that suited him.

It was clear that Harry, Ron and Hermione were still best friends and saw each other regularly but there was an edge of sadness there. It had been clear that the trio was wasn't 'The Trio' anymore when Harry left and was no longer the leader, but now it was made fact, they were two and one, always best friends, but not quite as close.

It was about a year later when a book arrived, clearly a muggle book judging on the bindings and the layout. The cover was black, an enticing, glittering red stone in the centre. It was called _A Story of a Boy by Harry Potter_.

It was presented as a fantasy book, but McGonagall recognised the events from Harry's first year. The book didn't concentrate too much on the Dursleys (although, of course, all the names had been changed) but throughout the book it subtly indicated how their treatment affected his behaviour and self worth and his quiet acceptance that he would have to go back. He never expected anything different. Harry had always been particularly unwilling to talk about his Aunt and Uncle, but he seemed to have found a way to talk through a fictional character. And he was fictional, because at all times Harry had made sure to create new characters in the place of real people, to make sure he wasn't just writing about himself.

Harry didn't touch on the Headmaster much in the book, only making a smiling benefactor with an interest in the boy of the book, sinister and caring at the same time.

McGonagall was more pleased than she would admit that Harry had portrayed her well. Or, at least, the fictional version of her, different but the same. It made for a slightly disconcerting read at times.

The second book in what the blurb now advertised as the '_A Story of A Boy' series_ arrived roughly a year and a half later. It was called _A Story of A Boy, Whispers in the Dark_, which McGonagall sat down to read instantly. Apart from anything else, Harry was a brilliant writer.

Harry's third book was called _A Story of A Boy, Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair,_ and was probably the best yet, if not for the fact that McGonagall could practically feel Harry straining to tell them all that Sirius (called Polaris in the book) was innocent.

The fourth book was called _A Story of A Boy, Victor in the Dark_ and was probably the bitterest book yet.

The fifth, _A Story of A Boy, An Ending_ was the unstoppable build up to the inevitable conclusion, which, although McGonagall would never admit it to anyone, left her weeping.

The sixth book was called _A Story of a Boy, Secrets and Lies_, was the story of a war where nobody knew anything, especially the supposed saviour and even the man who seemed to know everything fell into a trap.

The seventh, _A Story of A Boy, The Little Things_ was an interesting one for McGonagall. She hadn't been there for most of what would've been Harry's seventh year, and so she was largely unable to tell what was fact and what was fiction.

Ironically, Hermione told her, for his books Harry had become almost as famous in the muggle world as he was in the wizarding one, but it held two major differences. One, he was truly proud of his books and two, he was able to control it; he was known for being an intensely private person, and few dared to breach that privacy. Although Harry was still uncomfortable with the idea of having fans, he couldn't help but love the ones that truly loved his books.

All in all, it didn't sound like a bad life for her old student.

…

A/N – Well, there you are, Harry Potter was written by Harry Potter! Nah, not really. In my mind I imagined Harry's _A Story of A Boy_ series to be very different from the original Harry Potter series, for instance –

The Dursleys – One of my main annoyances with the original HP series is that nobody really acknowledges that Harry was abused. Even in the later books when they're all saying stuff like 'we'll get you out of there as soon as we can' nobody's saying 'he's abused there, he shouldn't _be_ there to begin with. They should be prosecuted as abusers'. I think that since (in my mind at least) Harry's just beginning to accept that he was abused, he would concentrate on it and the affects of it a lot more.

Dumbledore – Harry's feelings about his innate affection for Dumbledore and his anger at being manipulated by him would be brought out.

The sheer insanity of what everybody expects from him – He arrives in the wizarding world with pretty much no knowledge of it, but people assume knowledge. What's more, they assume him to be 'The Boy Who Lived'. He gets pulled into a lot of insane stuff (some his fault, but still). He saves people a lot. People expect him to save people. He gets messed up.

That's an all round kind of thing, but in the individual books and the reason for the titles:

_A Story of A Boy_ – The basis of my idea – Harry presenting the world with the story of what is (in Harry's view) an ordinary boy. The things like The Philosopher's Stone aren't as important as trying to find out who, exactly, his parents were, homework, nasty teachers, his friends, and trying, in some desperate eleven year old way, to do what's right.

_Whispers in the Dark_ – Refers to the school turning on Harry, and of course, the slow take over of Ginny's mind. I also think that Harry's book would pay more attention to the affects of Ginny's possession on Ginny. It's never really mentioned again and in POA she seems to have gotten over it, which is slightly accurate as Harry himself would've been unlikely to notice in his third year, but this would be an adult Harry writing with more knowledge of what happened and how it affected Ginny.

Also, title shamelessly taken from the Mumford and Sons song.

_Fair is Foul and Foul is Fair_ – Refers to Sirius, Remus (who is a werewolf and so most people would think is 'foul'), Pettigrew, and Fudge (who Harry has a quite understandable grudge against). Also the quote comes from Macbeth, as the witches plan to give a (true) prophecy to Macbeth that will destroy his life.

I also think that Harry would (as he would in all later books) focus much more on his relationship with Sirius and Remus, giving them a longer time to chat etc. He would also give Sirius and Remus as friends more time.

_Victor in the Dark_ – Refers to the fact that Voldemort won, and he's now hiding 'in the dark', and that Harry 'won' the Tournament but he really has very little idea of what's going on, what's going to happen and no one will tell him.

_An Ending_ – Is basically because, for Harry, the story's not about the Order or anything, it's about Sirius dying.

_Secrets and Lies_ – Harry flies his sixth year blind, there's all sorts of spying and spies and Dumbledore is preparing Harry to fight but doesn't tell Harry any of his real plans.

_The Little Things_ – Because it's about what they're all fighting for, and a lonely walk to the forest with the resurrection stone, not about the big battles with Voldemort.

And for those of you that don't know, Ofsted is the 'Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills' and regular inspects and regulates schools and other children based things such as children's social care.


End file.
